austria
vienna, innsbruck
I took the train from Ljubljana, Slovenia, through the Southern Limestone Alps, passing Graz and into Vienna on the banks on the Danube River. My friend, Catherine, whom I had met in Korea lives in Vienna and she met me all smilles at the train station with a couple of beers. It was the night of "Live 8" Concert and we quickly sped though the city on the trams to her apartment where she was having a get together with some friends and watching the show streaming on the internet. Vienna is an expensive city! It was great having a place to stay and I hadn't seen Kate in over 9 months.
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Vienna
The next day she took me downtown and we wandered around Stephensplatz in the Innere Stadt, looked at a few old churches and buildings and then found a biergarten in the park near the Rauthausplatz (City Hall Plaza). We sat in the sun, drank cherry flavoured beers and reminisced about the good ol' days in Gangneung, South Korea.
Kate with Amadeus Mozart's death mask, cast in bronze, in an old church near Michaelerplatz and (left) the neo-gothic entrance to the Neueberg.
(Left) The entrance to the Neueberg at Michaelerplatz is adorned with several beautiful sculptures and fountains.
The heart of the city has to be Stephensplatz in the shdow of the 13th-century gothic masterpiece, Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral). Thousands of tourists crowd the thouroughfare Karntnerstrasse to watch street performers, shop or drink coffee in the numerous small cafes around the plaza. Kate's office is just around the corner behind me.
The north spire of Stephansdom towers high above the city. The cathedral was a certainly a sight to behold. Inside, the carvings, stonework and stained-glass windows were like none I had ever seen. Below this cathedral, and many others in Vienna are ancient catacombs dating back well-before the cathedral itself. Those below Stephansdom were mostly used during the Black Plague, to store the thousands of rotting corpses.
(Above) Entering the catacombs below Stephansdom and (right) horse-carriages are all-over Vienna.
(Below) I snuck a photo of some of the remains from the Black Plague. The tiny rooms of the catacombs were literally stacked with bones. When they became too full, people were hired to pull the bones from the ligaments and stack them criss-cross like a log cabin to save on space.. These poor souls were some of the lucky ones, whose bodies remaied intact (if you can say that).
After all the talk about Korea, Kate and I headed out for some good home-style Korean cooking, gimchi, BBQ meat and of course gochujang!
(Left) A cobbled back alley-way in downtown and (above) musicians perform with Renaissance instruments in Stephensplatz.
Museumsplatz, a cool place to hang out and waste the day away, is surrounded by the Museum of Modern Art, the City Art Gallery and the Zoom Children's Museum.
In 1832, Franz Sacher, a 16-year old apprentice created the world-famous Sacher Torte. The original and much-copied recipe for a rich chocolate cake can be found only at the Hotel Sacher, nestled between the Albertina Museum and the State Opera. The cafe downstairs where I had my 18 euro ($27) coffee and sacher torte is decorated tastefully with grand crystal chandeliers, crisp white linen tablecoths and waiters who carried a white cloth over their forearm. Yep, I felt really outta place in my grungy, camo shorts, my two week facial stubble and my red, Khaosan Road Bangkok purchased soccer t-shirt. The cake was good though.
(Above) Advertising posters plastered on a wall and (left) a very bizarre contemporary exhibit I went to at the Modern Art Gallery. I had to remove my shoes and wear slippers as I walked through a dark room that looked like it had been covered in a light dusting of snow during some sort of nuclear winter. The sound of biting wind played on a loadspeaker and the room was filled with strange deformed dolls and weird creatures covered in crystal white snow, along with a bed of white fur, a tray and a milk bottle. I didn't really get it.
Outside the KunstHausWien, a truly unique art museum that features undulating walls and rippling floors. In fact the whole building was designed to not contain a single straight line. It features a permanent collection of contemporary art and sculpture.
In Vienna, there are no newspaper-boxes, just bags of newspapers and a small coinbox. You're supposed to drop in 50 eurocents but it works on the honor system. I thought that was interesting.
And finally, Kate in her apartment setting up and using Skype for the first time.
I spent about a week in Vienna with Kate, and took a short day trip to Bratislava, Slovakia. I then headed northwards to the Czech Republic and visited a few cities there before re-entering Austria. I had originally planned on visiting Salzburg. It was the appeal of the Von Trapp family, in Salzburg the hills are apparently alive with the Sound Of Music, as the movie was partially filmed there. Unfortunately, I was running out of cash fast and assumed Salzburg would be a tourist trap, with tourist prices to boot and passed through and on to Innsbruck. Innsbruck was two-time host to the Winter Olympics, in 1964 and 1976. It's nestled in the Alps to the north and the Tuxer mountain range to the South. A small but EXPENSIVE town near the Swiss border.
Innsbruck
Speeding through the Austrian Alps in style, first class with my Eurail Pass.
A view from the Stadtturn, a 14-th century tower, looking down across the plaza at the Goldenes Dachl (Golden Roof). A tiny roof over a balcony, made of 2657 copper-gilded tiles from the 16th-century. Emporer Maximilian watch street performances and parades from here.
Looking southwards towards the Triumphal Arch and the Tuxer Mountains, over the rooves of old 15th and 16th century buildings in the town centre.
More views of the Alps, looking northwards over the Cathedral and eastwards over Innsbruck.
Horses carriages waiting for passengers (ie. waiting for tourists stacked with fat wads of euros to take them on short over-priced trips down the street).
A 15th-century building housing a bakery.
I wandered around and eventually found this free concert of traditional Austrian music. At least, I think it was free, I just wandered in and nobody said anything. Booya!
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